NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Evidence of Underground Water on Mars ‘That Could Have Supported Life’

The Curiosity Rover spent six months researching formations that appeared like spiderwebs from space.

Curiosity component images combined into a self-portrait at drilling target ‘Windjana.’ NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA’s Curiosity Rover has discovered evidence on Mars that suggests underground water once existed in a region of the planet later than scientists first believed, the agency reported March 15.

“Our findings show that Mars didn’t simply go from wet to dry,” said Dimitra Atri, group leader of the Mars Research Group at New York University. “Even after its lakes and rivers disappeared, small amounts of water continued to move underground, creating protected environments that could have supported microscopic life.”